1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-line skate for ice skating.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The concept of in line wheels on a skate for rolling across roadways and sidewalks is a old and tried concept. In-line skating has become a popular and profitable industry during the 1990s though the origin goes back many years.
One design of an in-line skate dating back to the 1940s is U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,118 to Foran which shows a pair of in-line wheels which is disclosed to provide a skate capable of great speeds.
The 1975 patent to McMahan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,90,520 shows a more modern version of the two-wheeled, in-line skate.
Others, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,395 to Lee shows complex adaptations of the roller skate to somewhere between an in-line wheeled skate and a double-pair skate by utilizing three wheels per skate.
And of course, numerous designs are available today from companies a wide range of companies providing polyurethane wheels for in-line skating on hard, dry surfaces.
Some skates have been designed to bridge the gap between roller skating and ice skating by providing both blades and wheels, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,390 to Cote for skating on synthetic surfaces. U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,091 to Nagin shows another skate device having wheels and a blade for skating on plastic surfaces.
Adaptable skates which can be converted from ice-skates to roller skates or inline skates have also been attempted. See for instance U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,295 to Schaefer or U.S. Pat. No. 4,10,450 to Cote which show removable blades which can be replaced by roller supports.
However none of these references shows an in-line skate which can be used adequately to skate on ice using only specially designed metal in-line skate wheels. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
The present invention contemplates a new arena of in-line skating which brings the inventive process and improvements to skating full circle. Ice skating has remained somewhat unchanged for decades, relying on the single runner per skate which the skaters uses by gliding along on one foot while pushing off with the runner of the opposite skate by applying the blade to the ice and an angle oblique to the direction of travel. The blade thus applied to the ice instead of sliding is dug into the ice temporarily while the skate pushes off to provide motive force. By alternating the pushing foot and the gliding foot, the skater can propel himself along the rink or skating area.
A major disadvantage to this type of skate is the amount of friction which the skate incurs through contact with the ice. The use of waxes and sharpening are effective in reducing the friction, but not in reaching the minimum friction achieved by the present invention. The present invention reduces the contact area between the skate and the ice by providing metallic wheels in place of the urethane wheels of present in-line skates to reduce the overall surface area in contact with the surface. The metallic wheels have the further advantage of being able to roll or slide on the surface, unlike runner blades of normal ice skates. In all ice-borne vehicles whether it be a snowmobile, sled or ice skate, a certain amount of the ice will melt beneath the runner as a compound effect of the friction and pressure caused by the weight acting downwardly on the runner. The melting increases the friction by both digging a trough in the ice among other effects.
A skate according to the present invention in addition to be able to slide across or through a trough like a runner can roll through out of the trough thereby reducing the resistance of the skate to forward motion. The effect of both the decreased surface area and the ability of the wheels to roll across the ice decrease the friction which the skater most overcome and increase the efficiency of the device. The metallic tapering of the wheels provides both a controllable contact area and pressure and provides a surface with sufficient friction to allow the skater to stand on the ice and to propel himself as discussed above by pushing off against the ice. Plastic wheel and known polyurethane wheels, while providing sufficient motive friction on dry land, would be too slippery on ice or even wet surfaces to provide sufficient stability or motive force.